Rummage Filming Locations

Rummage (1989) Produced, Directed, Photographed, and Edited by Albert Gabriel Nigrin With Assistant Direction by Irene Fizer Voice Over by Mac Dettman Sound by Albert Gabriel Nigrin Length: 25 minutes Rummage is an experimental documentary of the legendary rummage sale that takes place in Far Hills, New Jersey every first weekend in May and October. Rummage, shot over three years on Tri-X black and white film stock, captures a complex range of images from the sale: the shouts of anticipation when the tents open in the morning; the mulling over unidentifiable objects; the fierce competition for bargains; the frustration over long waits to enter popular departments such as "Kitchen Goods" and "Women's Clothing"; and the plastic flaps of the tents rising in the wind -- revealing and concealing the buyers within. The soundtrack primarily consists of an interview with Mac Dettman - a venerable member of the rummage sale staff. At certain points this interview is in synch with the images; at others it is not. The soundtrack also consists of ambient sounds from the sale: hamburger orders, questions about price; haggling over broken merchandise, etc. ---AGN "As usual I found a Nigrin film [Rummage] intriguing and haunting. (Nigrin's) ability to deal with the ordinary... while suggesting that, just around the corner, there is something strange and weird and scary continues to move me in special ways." ---Professor Michael Rockland, Chair, Department of American Studies, Rutgers University, 1990